158 lines
8.3 KiB
Markdown
158 lines
8.3 KiB
Markdown
# Dendrite [](https://buildkite.com/matrix-dot-org/dendrite) [](https://matrix.to/#/#dendrite:matrix.org) [](https://matrix.to/#/#dendrite-dev:matrix.org)
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Dendrite is a second-generation Matrix homeserver written in Go.
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It intends to provide an **efficient**, **reliable** and **scalable** alternative to Synapse:
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- Efficient: A small memory footprint with better baseline performance than an out-of-the-box Synapse.
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- Reliable: Implements the Matrix specification as written, using the
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[same test suite](https://github.com/matrix-org/sytest) as Synapse as well as
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a [brand new Go test suite](https://github.com/matrix-org/complement).
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- Scalable: can run on multiple machines and eventually scale to massive homeserver deployments.
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As of October 2020, Dendrite has now entered **beta** which means:
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- Dendrite is ready for early adopters. We recommend running in Monolith mode with a PostgreSQL database.
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- Dendrite has periodic semver releases. We intend to release new versions as we land significant features.
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- Dendrite supports database schema upgrades between releases. This means you should never lose your messages when upgrading Dendrite.
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- Breaking changes will not occur on minor releases. This means you can safely upgrade Dendrite without modifying your database or config file.
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This does not mean:
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- Dendrite is bug-free. It has not yet been battle-tested in the real world and so will be error prone initially.
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- All of the CS/Federation APIs are implemented. We are tracking progress via a script called 'Are We Synapse Yet?'. In particular,
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presence and push notifications are entirely missing from Dendrite. See [CHANGES.md](CHANGES.md) for updates.
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- Dendrite is ready for massive homeserver deployments. You cannot shard each microservice, only run each one on a different machine.
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Currently, we expect Dendrite to function well for small (10s/100s of users) homeserver deployments as well as P2P Matrix nodes in-browser or on mobile devices.
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In the future, we will be able to scale up to gigantic servers (equivalent to matrix.org) via polylith mode.
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Join us in:
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- **[#dendrite:matrix.org](https://matrix.to/#/#dendrite:matrix.org)** - General chat about the Dendrite project, for users and server admins alike
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- **[#dendrite-dev:matrix.org](https://matrix.to/#/#dendrite-dev:matrix.org)** - The place for developers, where all Dendrite development discussion happens
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- **[#dendrite-alerts:matrix.org](https://matrix.to/#/#dendrite-alerts:matrix.org)** - Release notifications and important info, highly recommended for all Dendrite server admins
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## Requirements
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To build Dendrite, you will need Go 1.13 or later.
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For a usable federating Dendrite deployment, you will also need:
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- A domain name (or subdomain)
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- A valid TLS certificate issued by a trusted authority for that domain
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- SRV records or a well-known file pointing to your deployment
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Also recommended are:
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- A PostgreSQL database engine, which will perform better than SQLite with many users and/or larger rooms
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- A reverse proxy server, such as nginx, configured [like this sample](https://github.com/matrix-org/dendrite/blob/master/docs/nginx/monolith-sample.conf)
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The [Federation Tester](https://federationtester.matrix.org) can be used to verify your deployment.
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## Get started
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If you wish to build a fully-federating Dendrite instance, see [INSTALL.md](docs/INSTALL.md). For running in Docker, see [build/docker](build/docker).
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The following instructions are enough to get Dendrite started as a non-federating test deployment using self-signed certificates and SQLite databases:
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```bash
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$ git clone https://github.com/matrix-org/dendrite
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$ cd dendrite
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$ ./build.sh
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# Generate a Matrix signing key for federation (required)
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$ ./bin/generate-keys --private-key matrix_key.pem
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# Generate a self-signed certificate (optional, but a valid TLS certificate is normally
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# needed for Matrix federation/clients to work properly!)
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$ ./bin/generate-keys --tls-cert server.crt --tls-key server.key
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# Copy and modify the config file - you'll need to set a server name and paths to the keys
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# at the very least, along with setting up the database connection strings.
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$ cp dendrite-config.yaml dendrite.yaml
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# Build and run the server:
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$ ./bin/dendrite-monolith-server --tls-cert server.crt --tls-key server.key --config dendrite.yaml
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```
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Then point your favourite Matrix client at `http://localhost:8008` or `https://localhost:8448`.
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## Progress
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We use a script called Are We Synapse Yet which checks Sytest compliance rates. Sytest is a black-box homeserver
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test rig with around 900 tests. The script works out how many of these tests are passing on Dendrite and it
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updates with CI. As of November 2020 we're at around 58% CS API coverage and 83% Federation coverage, though check
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CI for the latest numbers. In practice, this means you can communicate locally and via federation with Synapse
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servers such as matrix.org reasonably well. There's a long list of features that are not implemented, notably:
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- Push
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- Search and Context
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- User Directory
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- Presence
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- Guests
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We are prioritising features that will benefit single-user homeservers first (e.g Receipts, E2E) rather
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than features that massive deployments may be interested in (User Directory, OpenID, Guests, Admin APIs, AS API).
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This means Dendrite supports amongst others:
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- Core room functionality (creating rooms, invites, auth rules)
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- Federation in rooms v1-v6
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- Backfilling locally and via federation
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- Accounts, Profiles and Devices
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- Published room lists
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- Typing
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- Media APIs
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- Redaction
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- Tagging
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- E2E keys and device lists
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- Receipts
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## Contributing
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We would be grateful for any help on issues marked as
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[Are We Synapse Yet](https://github.com/matrix-org/dendrite/labels/are-we-synapse-yet). These issues
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all have related Sytests which need to pass in order for the issue to be closed. Once you've written your
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code, you can quickly run Sytest to ensure that the test names are now passing.
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For example, if the test `Local device key changes get to remote servers` was marked as failing, find the
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test file (e.g via `grep` or via the
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[CI log output](https://buildkite.com/matrix-dot-org/dendrite/builds/2826#39cff5de-e032-4ad0-ad26-f819e6919c42)
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it's `tests/50federation/40devicelists.pl` ) then to run Sytest:
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```
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docker run --rm --name sytest
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-v "/Users/kegan/github/sytest:/sytest"
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-v "/Users/kegan/github/dendrite:/src"
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-v "/Users/kegan/logs:/logs"
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-v "/Users/kegan/go/:/gopath"
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-e "POSTGRES=1" -e "DENDRITE_TRACE_HTTP=1"
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matrixdotorg/sytest-dendrite:latest tests/50federation/40devicelists.pl
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```
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See [sytest.md](docs/sytest.md) for the full description of these flags.
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You can try running sytest outside of docker for faster runs, but the dependencies can be temperamental
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and we recommend using docker where possible.
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```
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cd sytest
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export PERL5LIB=$HOME/lib/perl5
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export PERL_MB_OPT=--install_base=$HOME
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export PERL_MM_OPT=INSTALL_BASE=$HOME
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./install-deps.pl
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./run-tests.pl -I Dendrite::Monolith -d $PATH_TO_DENDRITE_BINARIES
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```
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Sometimes Sytest is testing the wrong thing or is flakey, so it will need to be patched.
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Ask on `#dendrite-dev:matrix.org` if you think this is the case for you and we'll be happy to help.
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If you're new to the project, see [CONTRIBUTING.md](docs/CONTRIBUTING.md) to get up to speed then
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look for [Good First Issues](https://github.com/matrix-org/dendrite/labels/good%20first%20issue). If you're
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familiar with the project, look for [Help Wanted](https://github.com/matrix-org/dendrite/labels/help-wanted)
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issues.
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## Hardware requirements
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Dendrite in Monolith + SQLite works in a range of environments including iOS and in-browser via WASM.
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For small homeserver installations joined on ~10s rooms on matrix.org with ~100s of users in those rooms, including some
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encrypted rooms:
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- Memory: uses around 100MB of RAM, with peaks at around 200MB.
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- Disk space: After a few months of usage, the database grew to around 2GB (in Monolith mode).
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- CPU: Brief spikes when processing events, typically idles at 1% CPU.
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This means Dendrite should comfortably work on things like Raspberry Pis.
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